Escapism
by HalcyonNight
Summary: Escapist, n, adj: the art or technique of escaping from chains, locked trunks, etc., especially when exhibited as a form of entertainment.. A short introspective look into why Lucy left home, and the chain of causality leading to that point. One shot.


**Oh wow, my first story in the realm of Fairy Tail :D**

**This spawned from the fact that I am currently overdosing on Dr Pepper and Orange Juice, and have just started to watch it for the first time. On episode two at the moment, and I need to finish KHR xD**

**Anyway, I hope you enjoy this piece, and that you read and review. I enjoy reading your ideas. And I know this could be improved, but I don't have the time to do it as I need to do revision for dual-tests on Monday and I only posted this because it got in the way of my revision :/. And yes, it's short, and may be a tad bit confusing at times.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own FAiry Tail - if I did Lucy would be summoning more and kicking butt. Also, I don't own Dr Pepper, if I did then I would be amazingly happy.**

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Pictures…they are curious things.

Quite literally, they are the sum of their parts – viscous ink lovingly bled over a canvas, a shard of colourful remembrance imprinting a permanent image of the present. Happy images, those capable of inducing some powerful sense of content and fond nostalgia and just sheer joy- the times that you don't ever want to forget. People have these moments every day and every night, and forget them just as quickly, memories fizzing away like tiny stars until they fade, silent as the night as they die out. People don't usually step back and just think about them, too caught up in the encroaching claws of the future or just too entrenched by the stagnancy of the past.

Either of which would be a death sentence for one Lucy Heartfilia, who was dreading the future and too fearful of losing herself in the past.

Shrugging her shoulders, beleaguered, she slipped the photo album back into the cardboard box in front of her, it quickly being forgotten under the pressure of the current task. Sighing to herself, she kicked herself into gear, piling up clothes – both old and new, with very little regard for differentiating the two, leaving them a chimeric mixture of antiquity and modernity – and chucking the two inside the box, quickly filling it up haphazardly in an attempt to stuff as much inside as possible. Spotting the box reaching the breaking point, she relented, covering the mess inside with the weak pair of flaps, sealing the tiny crevice in with a strip of duct tape, viciously snapping the strand off before chucking the wheel of tape behind her.

Buffeted by annoyance, her mind was utterly tempestuous – roiling and coiling incessantly as her subconscious murmured enraged statements about how much she hates moving house, and why can't they stay and why is the world unfair. Stepping away, she doused the inferno raging in her mind, with one simple statement – a statement that defined her life at that moment in time.

"It's out of my control"

The words were spat out poisonously, but there was no force behind her words. She had long become accustomed to the fact that she is in no control of her own life, bleak acceptance draining whatever fight she could have possibly started. In her personal opinion, it literally epitomised her uneventful seventeen years of living– this lack of control.

Moving out of her once lively room, the posters of celebrities and lacrima-vision series characters hastily torn down in the fervour of moving house (she was quite partial of her 'Dr What', even if she will deny it until the end of her days – her popularity and social life depended on it), some making the ultimate sacrifice as their pristine condition was erased by a jagged scar running down the centre, leaving the pink walls almost naked. All her literature was stored away, placed individually in a separate box dubbed 'Lucy's Lit – Don't Touch', ensuring that the bookcases that were once filled to the brim with books were now left bereft.

Following the innocuous crack on the ceiling, she traversed the remains of her room (for she knows that this is not her room any longer even if she wants to remain anchored to the security the possession brings), stepping out of the boundaries of the doorway and into the narrow hallway. Rushing down the stairs, trying to get some feeling back into her legs after sitting on them for so long, she entered the kitchen intent on getting a drink.

Pouring herself a glass of 'Dr Pepper', she toyed with the idea of fighting for her own freedom. Not in the literal sense of course, for she doubts there is very little that she could do against the impressive build of her father or the disapproving gazes of her maids. The way that all adults seemingly know how to do, oddly enough, like it was some innate ability people get when they reach a certain age.

Oh no, she was thinking about running away. Packing her bags, taking all of her money and setting off on her own adventure – it would be like her very own adventure, no one to boss her around or make all the important decisions in her life. She might even find her very own Prince Charming, and she would live happily ever after, just like in the fairy tales her parents used to read to her when she was a child. The more and more she thought about it, the more and more it became attractive – she could do this. With her keys in hand, she could do anything that she wanted, traversing the world without the pressure of her father pushing her down, spouting nonsense about a man that she didn't love or bother with this whole moving business.

Shocked out of her musings by the entrance of one of the maids, who instantly gasped at the fact that she found her beloved mistress in the kitchens, instantly rushing forward with cries of 'she'll do it' and that 'she needed to be ready for when the carriage arrives with her husband.'

"Don't worry about it Cindy, I can do this you know. I'm not a princess." Chuckling, amused, she dismissed the maid, despite the heavy opposition to the idea.

"Don't worry about me, okay?"

Placated, but not entirely willing, Cindy left – treading slowly out of the expansive kitchen and out in the hallway. Sighing loudly, Lucy stayed a moment longer, sipping her cool beverage before stepping out herself, traversing the mansion until she arrived back at her once vibrant room. Stepping inside slowly, she breathed deeply, resolute in her decision to leave the mansion and her father and her maids behind, secure that it was time to let the curtain close for the final time on her life at the Heartfilia mansion.

Fishing out her private money stash, a nice and tidy sum of two million gems (her monthly allowance, though it was a million gems shorter as her father said she no longer needed money now that she was getting married), she slotted the bundle into her bag, slung it around her waist, and fetched her keys from their place inside.

There wasn't any point in bringing any clothes, she could buy them, and books were always replaceable. So with her plan in mind, she said goodbye to her old life, with its flashy dresses and its marriage proposals and all its _stress, _and faced the present as it was.

It was time for Lucy Heartfilia to get out.

Pausing at the doorway, she hesitated, before turning back around and rifling through the cardboard box, slitting it open and reaching for her photo album and rifling through. Flicking through the pages, she arrived at the one she wanted the most, slotting the tiny photo out of its confines and into her cute wallet.

With the picture of her mother for good luck, and with her keys at her side, she stepped out, leaving her world behind and leaving her world of pseudo-freedom and escaping her gilded cage.

And made her way to her very own story – her Fairy Tail.

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**One Shot, Fin~**

**And yes, I know this isn't good, and I am posting only because a friend of mine asked me to~**

**And yes, the spelling of Fairy Tale is spelt like that on purpose. It was a pun~**

**ANyway, read and review, and I hope you enjoyed reading it - even if it is slightly AU.**

**Sayonara~**

**HalcyonNight.**


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